Quoth
by Oriondruid
Summary: Shortly after the Final Battle Minerva helps save the life of an injured creature she finds and is amazed to learn of yet another intelligent species, who fought bravely in the skies above Hogwarts.


**Quoth**

Companionship can come in the strangest of forms, as Minerva McGonagall found out. Albus Dumbledore had Fawkes, his pet Phoenix, but after the war the fates decreed she'd befriend a bird of a very different feather.

**Aftermath.**

She was bone weary and heartsick, having spent most the second day after the Final Battle writing letters of condolence to the parents of the all too many pupils that Hogwarts had lost during Voldemort's thankfully thwarted attack. She finished this sad task only by late afternoon, having commenced early in the morning and as she had written each short but heartfelt note she recalled the faces of each of the victims, and in some cases even remembered having witnessed their sad deaths in the fighting. When this had happened she had to break off, as tears forced her to stop writing, making her task a long and harrowing one. Now at last though she was finished with her terrible duty and rose from her desk, groaning due to all the minor aches and pains, not just those of her age, but also due to the minor hurts she herself had sustained in the Battle. She then headed off towards the Medical Wing.

Poppy Pomfrey looked up from the bed of the injured young patient she was attending and saw Professor Minerva McGonagall entering her domain. She smiled in reassurance to the injured young girl she had been treating, told her she'd be back soon and gently patted her on the hand. She then walked over to her old friend and colleague, seeing how weary and strained she appeared and knowing she herself probably looked in a similar condition, both of them having been so overworked during and since the fighting.

"Minerva, you look awful!" Poppy said, not mincing her words. "If I had a spare bed I'd order you into it, but sadly they're all filled. In the absence of one being available come into the Treatment Room, at least I have a potion or two in there Horace has made, which should put back a little colour in your cheeks and something to ease the aches and pains a bit. What you really need though is rest, but I know how it is, we're so alike you and I Minerva. 'Duty before self' is our motto. But we are both merely human and it'll do none of our charges here in the school any good if we work ourselves into an early grave. I have two relief Mediwitch nurses coming up later today, volunteers from St. Mungo's. They're coming here along with a fully qualified Healer. Now my patients are fairly stable I am going to leave their care to them and get a proper night's sleep tonight, even if I have to take a Draught of Peace and some Dreamless Sleep potion to get it! I recommend you do the same Minerva, you need it too, come along now, and no arguing, lets sort you out."...

Minerva refused the sleeping draughts Poppy offered, saying she would have no problem sleeping that night, but then after taking Pepper Up and Pain Killing potions given by her friend Minerva felt far better, the admittedly artificial surge of energy they had given her made her feel much fitter and less weary and after visiting the injured and then taking leave of Poppy she thought to herself, "Minerva my girl, you could do with a bit of fresh air, cooped up in that office all day, no wonder you felt so stale, yes, a little stroll before dinner and then bed will do you the world of good."

**A Rescue.**

She set of from the castle in late afternoon sunshine that would soon become evening, heading for a lovely spot she knew well, near the edge of the Forbidden Forest, a high knoll from which she knew she could watch the Thestrals soaring on the winds above the trees in the distance, which was something she'd always liked to do before all the recent troubles had come to Hogwarts.

As she was drawing near to the spot she was headed for her attention was drawn to a strange rustling noise in a bush, it sounded like some animal might be caught up in the undergrowth and, wand drawn as a precaution given recent events, she cautiously drew back part of the foliage to investigate the sounds. At the foot of the bush she saw what appeared to be a large mass of deep black feathers that was trembling slightly, so obviously belonged to something alive, some sort of bird she assumed. She reached out to touch it and as she did so a head bearing a very powerful looking beak emerged from under one wing and a beady dark eye looked at her, an eye that whilst it seemed to hold fear also somehow radiated a strong intelligence. Just from the shape of the head and beak and the bird's size alone she was able to deduce that it was a raven, one of many that called Hogwarts' turrets and it's grounds home, along with their smaller cousins, the crows.

Minerva knew that the Corvids, as this group of related birds are known are amongst the most intelligent of avian species, indeed often remarkably so, but it was also obvious that the particular specimen she was looking at was injured and in trouble. Perhaps, as seemed likely, this bird had somehow been hurt in the recent fighting around the castle and in the skies above it, had fallen to earth here and was in hiding, unable to fly. Such unintended casualties were, she understood, what Muggles in their equally nasty wars had recently taken to calling 'colateral damage' a horrible and sick euphemism for the slaughter of innocents.

"Well I'm dammed if this poor bird is going to die here if I can save it!" Minerva feircely resolved. She then spoke gently to the raven, saying; "Come along with me my feathered friend, I know just the chap who can help sort you out, Rubeus Hagrid will have you right as rain in no time, you see if he doesn't."

Rightly being very wary of the creature's powerful beak and claws, which even in it's injured state looked capable of inflicting much damage, she took off the tartan shawl she had around her shoulders and carefully placing it over the bird lifted it out of the bush and folded it gently in the fabric. The raven remained remarkably calm as she did so, only uttering what sounded like a small squawk of pain as she carefully placed it's injured wing in the folds of the shawl in a position that looked more natural.

Minerva, with her injured avian charge in her arms then headed off to see Hagrid, in his newly rebuilt hut. This had been replaced after having been destroyed in the previous Death Eater raid, the one which sadly had resulted in Dumbledore's death. Hagrid's new house had, amazingly, come through the fighting in the Final Battle unscathed, the castle itself having been the major focus of the hostilities.

Knocking on the door of Hagrid's hut Minerva was greeted by the friendly half giant, who, as he loomed in the open doorway said; "Professor McGonagall, lovely ter see yer, come in, come in, I just put the kettle on for a pot 'o tea. What's tha' yer've got in wrapped up in yer shawl Professor?

Minerva placed the bundle on the kitchen table and very gently unwrapped it saying: "Gently now Hagrid, we don't want to scare it. I thought you would know how to help, it's injured." As she spoke she slowly removed the fabric covering the bird, revealing the bird to Hagrid's inquiring gaze.

Hagrid looked at the bird on his table, which stared back at him with an intelligent glare which seemed to hold little fear. The half giant slowly ran his large but incredibly gentle hands over the creature, which made no move to attack him, just shied away a little when he touched the damaged wing, then Hagrid turned and spoke to Minerva, saying; "Now tha's not a sight yer see up this close too of'n Professor, a raven aint he? Where on earth d'yer find this chap, looks like he's been caught up in the battle ter me, bust a wing fer sure, but apart from that he seems healthy enough, a handsome chap he is too. I should be able ter fix him OK, with a bit 'o luck. I have something in my animal medicine cupboard that should help him. In the old days before the latest trouble started up again Professor Snape used to whip me up some potions to treat various creatures, 'cos people always seem to be bringing me animals they've found hurt or sick, a regular animal hospital this place is from time to time, as you know.

Hagrid then looked terribly sad and his voice became quieter and took on a different tone. He said, "It's hard now to believe how Professor Snape betrayed us all, he may never have been the most popular of the teachers amongst the pupils, but Professor Dumbledore always trusted him to the very last. To have killed him like he did and taken his place as Headmaster, I'd've never credited it possible."

Minerva placed her hand over Hagrid's own far bigger one on the tabletop, squeezed it and with a faint, slightly sad little smile on her face said; "It may well be we all had Severus wrong Rubeus. Before Harry and his two young friends Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley left with Kingsley to go to the Ministry to give their official statements I got the chance for a short private talk with him. Whilst he did not fully explain what he meant by it he did say to me not to judge Severus too harshly and that he now considers him the bravest man he ever knew! That's nearly all he was able to tell me at that time, but added that I should believe him when he said that Severus Snape will be recognised as a true hero, when the full story is revealed. I sincerely hope and pray he is right, as I always felt Severus to be a true friend and close colleague until what happened to Albus. But for now we must help our avian friend here, what have you got in your potion cupboard that might help?"

Hagrid smiled and replied; "Ah Professor, like I said, I've potions that Professor Snape created to heal animals, which are specially brewed and altered from human ones to fit the purpose. It was one of the Professor's favourite hobbies to experiment in potion making an' he liked to see what changes needed to be made to make 'em work on different creatures, as ones for people often won't do the job properly. If I asked him to he'd usually be able to whip up something that'd work, almost without fail. Yer see it'd be no good to give our injured friend here a draught of normal human Skelegro potion ter fix his wing, as human bones and those of flying creatures like birds, hippogriffs and thestrals are very different. All the flying creatures, magical or non-magical share similar bones, which although strong for their weight are very different from those as we've got. Their bones are very light, like a tough honeycomb an' using human potion to heal 'em would be worse than useless, might even kill 'em!"

"I see Rubeus" Minerva replied. "So I take it Severus created a special variation that may help heal our feathered friend here?"

"Yes Professor, a couple of drops should fix up the broken bone by tomorrow, but the muscles and such might be too sore for him to fly for a few days after. He's welcome to stay here with me an' Fang 'till then." He said smiling, then added; "But I may need your help to get a dose down 'im, they can do some terrible damage with them powerful beaks can ravens, worse'n hawks they can be if they sets their mind to it."

I'll help you then Rubeus, I'd probably best immobilise him with a spell, whilst you administer a dose from a dropper, then gently massage his throat to make sure it stays down. If we're careful then neither of us should lose any fingers in the process..."

**A Battle Hero Revealed.**

It was two days before Minerva was able to return to Hagrid's hut to see how the raven she'd rescued was getting on, as she had be very busy continuing trying to sort out the post battle chaos and review the damage to the school, which appeared to be even more structurally worrying than at first it seemed. Ministry experts and specialist magical building surveyors were going to have to do a thorough survey of the castle from top to bottom before any major reconstruction could even commence, as it seemed some unstable parts of the ancient structure and it's underpinnings might collapse at any moment.

Upon knocking on Hagrid's door and gaining entrance she could clearly see that not only was the bird looking much better, but that it was sat stretching it's wings on a branch Hagrid had set up as a perch. Also it was obvious that Hagrid was bursting to tell her something.

"Come in, come in Professor, I've bin hopin' yer'd drop by, as you can see our friend here is a lot better 'n has every chance of making a full recovery. But tha's not all! But I s'pose I'd best leave Raaakaww here to tell you himself, it's quite a tale he has to tell!

Minerva replied, "Are you well yourself Rubeus? Only it sounds like you've a nasty throat infection there, what was that croaking noise you just made in the middle of what you were saying?"

Hagrid replied , smiling: "No, I'm fine Professor, that's the birds name, or as near as a human voice can say it, although he tells me my accent's terrible. Luckily though, as yer'll see, he speaks much better English than I do Raven."

"You mean to say the creature can speak Rubeus? I know some of his kind who live with humans can become very fluent in English, even seem to use it intelligently, but this is a wild creature and for him to be able to do so would be extraordinary!"

Then the voice of the bird spoke in, with a clear, but non human sounding voice, and with a slight croak in it's accent and a strangely distant but clear sound eminating from it'd throat it said. "I speak Mistress McGonagall, all the Hogwarts Clan know human speech and many speak it well. As to being wild creatures, there you are very wrong Mistress. My kind have lived here amongst the turrets and grounds of this castle since it's Founders built it. It is as much our home as yours! Indeed one of those four Founders was a great friend to us, I'm sure you can guess which one of them."

The large black bird then went on to tell the astonished humans an amazing tale, he said; "Rowena Ravenclaw was not just named for us, but was secretly what you magical folk call an Animagus. She spent much time amongst us, glorying in being able to fly without a broomstick. Our Clan has many stories and legends from that time, some even believe she was one of the Clan founders and passed on her great wisdom to us. I will tell you more of those stories another time. For now I want to thank you for saving my life. If I had been left injured as I was during the battle I would certainly have died, but you and Hagrid here were kind and helped me. You saved my life and I am grateful."

Minerva was temporarily stunned by what she'd heard and from the strangeness of it's source, but recovering swiftly she replied. "I was glad to be of help, but it was really Hagrid here whose knowledge and skill saved you, thanks also to the late Professor Snape, it's them who you should mostly give thanks, although sadly Severus is no longer with us to thank."

The strange dark bird replied; "Yes Mistress, I have already thanked Hagrid for his kindness, but if you had not brought me to him I should probably have been dead by now, so you too are my saviour, thank you for giving me back my life. I thought when the evil one's spell blasted me from the air I was doomed, but now I will live to return to my people, to mourn our lost fighters, but also to celebrate our great victory together."

Hagrid, unable to contain himself any longer and almost about to explode with enthusiasm broke in, saying; "You see Professor, it wasn't just us humans fightin', the Centaurs, Hippogriffs an such was all fightin' the Death Eaters as well. Even the Mer People got some of the sods when they was daft enough to come in trident range of the Black Lake. A few of 'em got skewered when caught unawares without shielding spells, thinking 'emselves safely clear of the castle."

He went on enthusiastically, saying; "The Hogwarts Clan of Ravens and their smaller cousins the crows were also battling those who attacked us in the air! They were defending their home and this school just as we were! Our friend here is just as much of a battle hero as any man, woman, child or other sentient creature who fought against the Dark Lord and his minions. He tells me, an' I have no reason to doubt him, that strikes against us by several Death Eaters attacking Hogwarts on broomsticks were foiled by his people and that they managed to kill several, by clawing at 'em and knocking 'em off their brooms, causing fatal fall's to the ground. The Ravens attacked their foes as individuals, the smaller crows mobbed the Death Eaters as they would a predator and also made some 'kills' by their harassment. It was in an aerial duel our friend here was injured, caught by the edge of a blasting curse which knocked him out of the sky."

Minerva was astonished by these further revelations and turning once again to the raven she said; "It seems Hogwarts owes a great debt to your Clan brothers and sisters and also your smaller cousins. I'm so glad I found you where you fell and that you will be well again soon. I think that when you are fully healed you and I should have a talk. What you have revealed to Hagrid and I and the brave actions of all the other intelligeny creatures in the Battle changes many things in the way we will relate to each other in future and we need to set up some new protocols and dialogue between our peoples. Also I would be most fascinated on a personal level to hear some of the myths and stories your people have about the Founders Era and how the Hogwarts Clan came about. I would say, were you human, that my door will always be open to you, but in your case lets say it's my window that will be instead."

Minerva smiled, enjoying her little joke, then went on to add: "Sadly though I very much doubt I will ever be able to pronounce your real name even as well as Hagrid's attempts, I doubt a female larynx ever could."

Then a look of inspiration appeared on Minerva's face and she said: "I have an idea, may I call you Quoth? It's in honour of a favourite muggle writer of mine called Edgar Allan Poe and a poem he wrote, one which featured another of your kind who also had a way with human language.

The raven bowed it's head towards her and replied. "I am honoured by the name Professor, and I will be happy to join you for a talk in a few days when I'm able to fly and have had a chance to let my loved ones and relatives know I survived. I think this war, whilst sad, may mark a great advance in our people's understanding of each other. Just like you witches and wizards have hidden your abilities from muggles, we too have kept our distance from you and although we overheard and understood much that was spoken in this castle we did not reveal our abilities. This should now change I think, I will discuss it with my Clan brothers and sisters. For now, I'm sure you have much work to do and so I bid you farewell, Thank you again for my life, I am forever in your debt.

**Author's Note, an explanation for my very long posting absence and a hope for the future: ** This short tale is something of a 'new beginning' for me. Last April the mental and financial effects of serious and long term depressive illness and what was diagnosed as 'adjustment disorder' resulted in my becoming homeless. Several other contributing factors such as medicinal side effects resulted in my mental and physical health worsening further after I was evicted, so that by mid September 2013 they'd cause me to have a full scale mental breakdown. My depressive state by then having reached a severe instability that was becoming destructive and indeed at times all but suicidal!

Last autumn, whilst temporarily living in a derelict hut in Canterbury, Kent I got involved in a situation that resulted in my committing an act of destructive vandalism, which when I came to my senses resulted in my surrendering myself to the Police and spending some weeks on remand in a prison in Kent, whilst there undergoing psychological assessment. This was frightening but also educational, as prior to this I had never had any involvement with the law or criminality, other than incurring a speeding fine on my motorcycle as a youngster. So to find myself as a previously completely law abiding citizen in jail soon after my sixtieth birthday was, shall we say, a 'novel' and eye opening experience!

This incarceration happened because Government/NHS spending on mental health care is now so cut back in the UK that almost no emergency residential psychiatric facilities are available for people needing treatment and observation, except in the case of the most serious and dangerous people, who are considered an immediately acute and violent danger to themselves and others. Even then all too many such unstable people are permitted to roam the streets, the cause of several savage and senseless tragedies each year in our city, often reported in the news.

Almost all the old large 'mental institutions' having long been closed down, with the land sold off to build posh expensive houses on. Now sick people are regularly forced out into the 'tender mercies' of the so-called 'Care in the Community' Programme, (or rather the Don't Give A Toss in the Community Programme!). Indeed it is now so extremely bad in our mental health care services in the UK, with facilities so limited that mentally sick children and young teens are all too often being treated in adult mental wards amongst seriously dangerous people! Mentally ill adults who are anything less than outright violently psychotic or wildly delusional are almost routinely being processed as criminals, through Magistrates Courts and prisons, since there is no other place else to send them!

Luckily for me my situation was recognised as what it was (predominantly a mental health issue) by the court, but notwithstanding that fact the minor act of destruction I admitted that I had committed was nevertheless punished as a crime! However, I was 'only' sentenced to a Fine, Community Service and Probation, not a custodial jail sentence, but I do however now have a criminal record for having been mentally ill! The work order itself however did in fact prove most useful to me, as it gave me a new focus for my life to be doing some useful work, initially as ordered by the court, but now as a genuine volunteer for the medical charity The British Heart Foundation, having 'served my time'.

Over the last few months my life has got much better, as at long last I got some adequate treatment and finally got to see some proper qualified psychiatrists, not the semi-qualified New Age 'para-mental hippies' I'd previously seen, who wanted to play me whale music and make me do guided meditations, which were about as much use to me as a chocolate teapot!

On being 'tossed' from the Magistrates Court back on to the streets, with absolutely no money, nowhere to live and nowhere to go, with nothing but a rail ticket in my pocket I did what so many are forced to do, made my way to Central London and for a short while ended up sleeping in shop doorways and eating thanks to the charity of various social and religious organisations, to whom I am very grateful. Thanks to these people's splendid work it is indeed virtually impossible for a street dweller to starve to death! However. of course hypothermia is another matter, but luckily I was helped out by another organisation who suggested a hostel that I was able to get into before the worst of the winter weather arrived, thanks to my sister providing financial help.

Since seeing some competent professionals however my medication clashes and their severe physical and mental side effects have been sorted out. So I am now stable and declared once again as 'sane as the next man', (whatever that means, 'cos the people who run the world sure ain't)! I also feel much more physically healthy than I was.

The turn around in my situation since Christmas has been remarkable and thanks to the kind help of many people and voluntary organisations etc. I now am out of the grotty hostel, have a decent new home with my own private rom and maybe even the prospect of a 'proper' job soon. I even have a 'new', second hand computer, (my old laptop also having 'died' last year).

It seems people in difficulties in our 'civilised society' are now allowed to get right to the edge of the abyss before the odd lucky few get hauled back and helped. What little State 'safety net' that previously existed has now been destroyed by our politicians in succesive recent Governments, to save money, presumably so they can finance their illegal wars and their vast and fraudulent expenses claims! But at least I'm one of the lucky few still getting helped by the voluntary sector it seems, for which I am grateful to those compassionate people who at least reach out and try. But certainly **not** to our politicians and bureaucrats, for whom I feel nothing but contempt as they only increasingly continue their efforts to make the lives of the poor and sick harder in this country, so as to 'featherbed' the rich and increase inequality! :o(

As one of the lucky few who did get help however I now feel so much better. I am once again able to write creatively a little and this short little tale is my initial foray back into fan fiction. Quoth the raven is a character I originally invented for an as yet un-posted and much longer, still incomplete 'crossover' HP/THG tale. This is the 'back story' about this remarkable bird and how he came into Minerva's life after the war. It's just a cute little 'plot bunny' I felt deserved to be written that's been nagging me for a while. I hope you enjoy it and that I will soon be able to turn my now much clearer mind to completing some of my overdue and still incomplete longer tales.

First though in a follow up 'one shot' Minerva and Quoth will hold their promised 'little chat' in a second short tale, to be entitled A Tapping At The Window, in honour of Edgar Allan Poe, the great 'gothic horror' writer who died in 1849 and in particular as a tribute to his poem, The Raven. This follow up story will hopefully be one that's soon to come as I have the main points already plotted. Quoth's revelations regarding his people's origins will prove startling to Minerva, but in the post war world much that was once hidden will be revealed and all manner of old certainties, attitudes and predjudices of the Wizarding World will have to undergo change.

Many Blessings All.

Oriondruid, (John).


End file.
